1. Field
The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to nuclear environments and, more particularly, to a system usable in nuclear environment for providing breathable gas and cooling to an interior region of a location such as a main control room in an emergency or other situation.
2. Related Art
As is generally understood, nuclear power plants and other nuclear environments employ nuclear fission or nuclear fusion for certain purposes. Due to the potential danger that exists in such nuclear environments, numerous control systems and protection systems are implemented. In a nuclear power plant, for instance, the nuclear environment typically includes a main control room where the nuclear reactor and supporting equipment and systems are controlled. While such nuclear environments have been generally effective for their intended purposes, they have not been without limitation.
For instance, the main control room of a nuclear environment typically is occupied by human personnel who are charged with operating the various systems such as control systems and protective systems of the nuclear environment. In the event of an emergency such as a loss of coolant or other such emergency, the main control room can sometimes lose its electrical power feed. This is undesirable since the electrical power feed provides power to run the control systems and protective systems and also powers the needed air conditioning system that controls the environment within the main control room. While backup diesel generators have been proposed for use in a beyond design basis accident (BDBA), such diesel generator based solutions often require both time and manpower. In a rare situation wherein a main diesel generator may be unavailable, the main control room can rapidly become heated and its quality of breathable air can rapidly deteriorate. Batteries are also used but are generally reserved to operate safety-related equipment. Such deterioration of air quality can include depletion of oxygen, increased levels of carbon dioxide and ingress of airborne radioactive particles, all of which are undesirable.
While backup batteries have been proposed for use in a situation where a diesel generator is unavailable, such backup battery systems understandably have a limited capacity, typically twenty-four hours, which may be insufficient for the personnel to carry out all of the safety-related operations. If the various emergency operating procedures and other procedures that are required to be completed during an emergency have not yet been performed by the time the backup batteries are reaching the end of their operational capability (approximately twenty-two hours), an automatic depressurization system (ADS) will proceed to flood the containment. Such a flood is undesirable because of the significant cleanup that will be required afterward. Improvements thus would be desirable.